To Save Her Smile
by The Black Chocobo Knight
Summary: Tifa and Cloud discover that Yuffie's developed a dangerous habit. So they make Vincent go and help her to heal. Warnings: Cutting, self mutilation, etc. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! I don't own anything, so enjoy the story!

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To Save Her Smile

"Vincent…"'

The tall vampiric man looked up from his cup of tea. He was in the kitchen of the Shera and was enjoying a nice warm comforting drink before bed. But now he stared at two of his companions, Cloud and Tifa, standing him in front of him in their nightwear, looking concerned and worried. He narrowed his eyes and set down his cup.

"What's the matter?" he asked, looking between the two.

"Where's Yuffie," Cloud demanded, his bright mako blue eyes clouded with worry. Vincent looked at them. "She told me that she was going to bed." His young companions exchanged worried glances with each other.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked impatience and concern leaking in his voice. After another glance with Cloud, Tifa spoke, "We think…well, we think that there's something wrong with Yuffie." Vincent felt a sharp tug in his chest at this statement; though he ignored it as he stared his friends down.

"Like what?" Tifa flinched, mistaking his concerned tone for harshness, though she stared him right in his crimson eyes.

"We think she's hurting herself," she whispered.

A cold, icy chill quickly spread over Vincent's body at her words. Shocked, he sat back in his chair.

"What…?" He breathed; adverting his gaze. He stared into his cup, not knowing what to think.

"She's hurting herself!" Cloud cried, making Vincent and Tifa jump. "We're sure of it! We've—" his voice died as he looked at the floor, "We've seen it."

"Seen it? How?" he asked.

"She's cutting herself Vincent," Tifa said, looking up, "And she's hiding it."

"Obviously, but how?" Vincent whispered.

"With a knife…?" Cloud said bluntly, giving Vincent a strange look. Vincent gave him a blank stare before turning more towards Tifa.

"I meant," he began again, "How do you two know?" Cloud blushed.

"Her hips, it was an accident. He shorts dropped a little bit too low," Cloud looked at Tifa, "We don't' think she knows we saw."

Vincent sighed. Yuffie…of all people. He would have never expected that his happy, obnoxious, loud, slightly rude, and happy-go-lucky friend would be hiding something so dangerously serious. He obviously wasn't alone; Cloud and Tifa were as equally troubled. It shone as clear as glass in their eyes.

"What do you suppose we do," he asked quietly. Cloud and Tifa looked at each other and fidgeted nervously.

"Well…we were hoping…that, well, that you would do something?" Tifa asked, quickly adverting her eyes when his narrowed.

"Me? Why me?"

Cloud shrugged. "Well, you two are always together…"

"But wouldn't Tifa be a better choice in the matter?" he asked, thinking Yuffie would rather talk to another women. He knew could be a little imposing at times. But Tifa winced and held her arm self-consciously. "I don't think Ill be able to get her to admit it to me…"

"And you can't deny that you have feelings for her," Cloud blurted out. Vincent snapped his head towards him, as the entire room went silent.

Tifa, trying to save Cloud's hide, quickly added, "And we know she has feelings for you." Vincent fought the blush that threatened to color his cheeks, extremely grateful for his high collar. He tried to keep his tone as icy as he could manage.

"What does that have to do with the situation?" Tifa's eyes narrowed.

"Don't you care!" she snapped, glaring at him. He held her gaze for a moment, before lowering his eyes.

"Of course I care," he admitted quietly; Tifa smiled widely as she got the full gist of his statement; "I'll talk to her."

"Thank you, Vincent!" Tifa lunged towards him, throwing her arms around his neck. Cloud, too, walked over to him, smiling a giant relieved smile.

"Who knows," Cloud hopefully stated, "Maybe Tiff and I were wrong…maybe we saw something else?" Tifa and Vincent looked at the ground…neither of them finding any hope in Cloud's words.

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Vincent walked up the steps to the room he shared with the young ninja, all the while going over the relationship he had with her. They did spend a lot of time together; Cloud always put them together on missions. They roomed together all the time, and they were usually forced to share the bed. Neither of them ever really found it awkward, after the first couple of nights of course. He sighed, he _did_ have feelings for the young girl…and he was shocked when Tifa said that Yuffie returned them…

The more Vincent walked, the more his concern and worry was masked by anger. It was more towards himself, for not catching this earlier, but it was anger all the same. By the time Vincent reached their room, the atmosphere around him was thick and dangerous.

He opened the door to find Yuffie sitting on their bed, staring at the window as the massive airship flew silently in the calm night sky. It was a rare evening, for she wasn't plagued with air sickness. The young ninja shivered in her night shirt and turned towards the door.

"Hi Vince!" she chirped, "I almost thought you weren't coming." The tall man looked imposing in the shadows, illuminated only but the hall light. He shut the door, eyes narrowed.

"Yuffie," he almost growled, "We need to have a talk." Finally noticing how her friend was standing and the anger in his eyes, Yuffie gulped.

"W-w-why? Is there something wrong?" She cursed herself mentally at the stutter, but this was one of the rare times Vincent looked dangerous and deadly outside of battle. And she could lie to the others, but this side of her quiet, solemn friend frightened her a little.

"Yes," he rumbled, making his way over to the bed, and sitting on the edge. Yuffie crawled over to him like a puppy, noticing that he didn't take his shoes off, nor change into his pajamas.

"What's wrong?" she asked, managing to keep her voice steady. He turned his stern gaze towards her and she unconsciously leaned away a little.

"Yuffie," he said, his voice deep and firm, "Are you hurting yourself? Purposely?"

All the blood drained from Yuffie's already pale face and she flinched as if he physically hit her. She nervously scooted away from him, looking down, frantically shifting her gaze from one corner of the room to another, anything to hide from Vincent's unyielding stare.

"N-NO! W-w-why would I d-do something l-like that?" She asked, mentally cursing herself again, her stutter only getting worse, "No-no…of-of-of course not…I would never…" Vincent narrowed his eyes.

"Look me in the eye, Yuffie," he growled, "And tell me that you don't."

"V-Vince.." she whimpered, looking at her covers.

"Look at me." He demanded, his tone firm and solid. Yuffie slowly raised her gaze, and stared into his crimson eyes that glowed slightly in the dark. Her eyes filled with tears, and they started to run freely down her cheeks.

"Vincent…I…I…" she choked before jerking her head down, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.

Vincent closed his eyes and bowed his head for a minute. He felt painful tugs at his heart as he looked down at his friend. Her head was bowed and she was holding herself, crying. But he wasn't done. He needed proof…needed to make sure nothing was too serious.

"Show me," he demanded, keeping his tone firm. She looked up, her eyes wide with fear.

"N-n-no! Vincent! Pl-please! I'm sorry! Please no," she begged backing away from him further. His heart flinched but his eyes were still cold.

"Yuffie show me," he growled, "I need to see."

"No! Please, j-just leave it alone…I-I can deal with it..."

Vincent growled, lunging on top of her, grabbing her flailing hands with his golden claw, pinning them above her head. He shut his heart off to her cries begging him to stop. He swung one of his long legs over her, straddling her above her knees, immobilizing her. Vincent looked her over; raising her long-sleeved nightshirt just high enough to reveal the pair of shorts she also wore to bed. Ignoring her whimpers and cries, he gently tugged her shorts low enough to reveal her dark secret.

Vincent gasped at the sight that met his eyes, his heart dropping past the pit of his stomach. He felt his body go numb as he stared at the tiny girl underneath him. Angry, red dashes danced across both of her hips. He could see scars from older cuts, and the deep swollen welts of fresh ones. They sliced across her bones, and her tender skin was shone red against the rest of her pale body. The cuts crossed each other and some were long, reaching from her hips then down her pelvic bone. Some of her cuts were raw and open, dripping a little blood. Others were very deep and off color, and to his horror, oozing a cloudy fluid.

He looked at the girl he had pinned underneath him. Yuffie's eyes were tightly shut though tears still ran freely down her cheeks. She had stopped struggling under him, though her body was still tense. He released her hands, and they slowly dropped to her sides, her eyes still shut.

"Is there anywhere else?" he whispered, hoping that she didn't…but that little speck of hope shattered when after a pause, she lifted her left arm; the one that was always covered by her armor; and pulled down her sleeve, revealing another massacred limb.

Vincent climbed off her and Yuffie turned on her side, curling herself into a tight ball. Her choking sobs racked her small frame.

"Why, Yuffie?" he asked, his voice threatening to break, "Why would you do this?"

"You don't understand," she choked, "Everything!"

"'Everything' what, Yuffie?"

"My father…" she started, "He…he's abu—...not nice…and makes me feel like I don't exist…I needed something to cling to my humanity…I need something else to feel other than all this…emotional pain…something to take it away…sometimes it's like I'm in a dark hole…and it's the only way to free myself…sometime..It-its punishment…"

"Punishment?" He gasped, startled, "Why would you ever want to _punish_ yourself?"

"To make sure I don't forget," she sobbed. Vincent felt his heart break. He stared at his friend, her small shoulders shaking with racking sobs. He saw a young girl…broken and shattered…and made a grave, horrible mistake trying to pull herself back together.

Vincent leaned over and gently pulled Yuffie's limp form out of its ball and up and over to him. He sat her down in his lap and wrapped his long arms around her. The broken girl only cried harder, hiding her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry…"

Vincent held her tighter and began to gently rock her. "Shhh," he whispered, "It's okay. You're gonna be alright." They stayed like that for a few moments, Vincent tenderly rocking her and whispering comforting things to her sobbed, muffled apologies. It took a little time, but soon Yuffie's choking sobs died into hiccups, and then into shaky breaths. Vincent stopped rocking her and switched to rubbing her back in small circles. It was when he felt her totally collapse against him, that he gently pulled her away from him.

He laid her back down on the bed gently, brushing a few stray strands of hair away from her eyes.

"Just lay there Yuffie," he whispered, "I'll be right back." She sniffled before nodding her head. He didn't go far, just to the corner of the room where his things were. He got his medical kit and walked back to the bed.

"I need to treat some of your cuts…" he said, getting bandages, ointments, and alcohol out, "Some really don't look good."

"O-okay," Yuffie swallowed. He tugged down her shorts again, revealing the young ninjas handiwork.

"Sorry," he apologized when he doused her hips with alcohol, making her hiss in pain.

"S'okay," she whimpered through clenched teeth, gripping the sheets tightly. After drying the cuts which stared angrily and open back at him, he rubbed some antibacterial ointment on them and placed the biggest band-aid he had on them.

"May I see your arm?" he asked. She lifted her mutilated arm to him and he repeated the process, though using a long bandage to cover the cuts.

The doctoring done, he got up and put his supplies away, changing into his pajamas as well. Vincent got in bed beside her and pulled her close to him.

"Yuffie, he whispered, "Please promise me, you'll never do this to yourself again." She didn't say anything but buried her head in his chest.

"Yuffie, please," he begged leaning back a little. He gently grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting it up, her tired, swollen eyes meeting his. "Promise me." She cast her eyes down for a minute, and then raised them back, fresh tears threatening to show.

"I-I promise," she choked, her tears spilling. Vincent leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you," he whispered, drawing her as close as he could to him. He felt her nod into his chest, and it wasn't long before the emotionally and physically exhausted ninja fell asleep.

Vincent laid there for a little, in the solitude of darkness, never loosening his hold. He just held her vowing that from now on he would make sure to protect and help his love.

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Well, there we go...this was meant to be a one-shot, but there's always room for more. Let me know what you think! Pardon for any grammar mistakes, its late and my editors in bed. Till Next time!

EDIT: This chapter is now fully edited...I hope....ANYWAY, I will be continuing this so stay tuned! Thanks to all who reviewed!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! Welcome back to, To Save Her Smile. I'm so happy everyone liked the first chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it.

So, on with chapter two!

I don't own anything.

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To Save Her Smile Ch 2

Vincent woke up early to a painful tingling sensation in his left shoulder. He looked down to see Yuffie, red and puffy-eyed, curled against his chest sleeping peacefully, her head resting on his mechanical claw. His right arm was draped across her body, some point in the night losing its tight protective hold on her. Vincent laid there for a moment, ignoring the numbing pain, just enjoying having his arms around the young ninja. After a few moments, he slid his claw out from under her, trying his best not to wake her. As quiet as death, he got dressed and slid out of their room.

He made his way down to the kitchen, expecting to find it empty. He felt like he needed to think over what happened the previous night. What he was not expecting was to find Cloud and Tifa waiting for him in the kitchen. They sprang upon him like ravenous dogs.

"Well?" Tifa asked placing her hands on her hips, "What happened?"

"Yeah, were we right…or not?" Cloud gulped around a mouthful of eggs. Vincent sighed and sat down at the table across from Cloud.

"It's true," he said, eyes locked on the table, "She is cutting herself." The small sparks of hope that were in his companions faces disappeared completely and silence filled the kitchen. Tifa sat down at the table, handing Vincent a cup of freshly brewed tea.

"Thank you," he whispered and she nodded, placing her head in her hands.

"Oh Yuffie…" she said into her hands, "Our poor Yuffie…" Cloud cocked his head and gently grabbed one of her hands.

"Why…?" he asked, looking at Vincent, who inwardly flinched at the distraught in his eyes, "Why would she do this?"

"Do you think its…it's because of Aeris?" Tifa wondered, and they all felt pangs in their hearts at their lost friend.

"Don't worry Tif," Cloud said, soothingly rubbing her hand, "We'll find her. She couldn't have gone too far. With this airship, she'll be back in our party in no time."

Tifa whimpered before turning her attention back to Vincent, "Do you think it is because Aeris left?"

Vincent thought of all the cuts he had seen scar her beautiful flesh, how some looked days old. Scars he had saw looked even older.

"It could be a reason," he shrugged, "But from what I've seen, it looks like she started this habit long before we've known her."

"Oh Yuffs…" Tifa moaned letting go of Cloud's hand and putting her face in her hands, "She's been hiding this for so long…why didn't she come to one of us for help?"

Vincent ran a clawed hand through his hair, a rare action from the stoic man, "I don't know," he said simply, running over his conversation with her in his head, "Maybe she's not used to coming to others for help in her emotional matters."

"You said 'you saw', Vincent," Cloud said slowly, a question forming in his eyes, "When you say that, do you mean she showed you?" Vincent stared at the two pairs or distressed eyes, pleading at him and sighed.

"We had a long talk last night, and when she admitted to me that she has hurt herself…" he paused… "I made her show them to me."

"How bad was it?" Tifa asked softly.

"There were so many," he described, as best as he could from the haunting memory, "All of different lengths and depths. Both of her hips are mutilated…along with her arm—"

"—the arm she always has covered by her guard…" Cloud realized, and Vincent nodded.

"She had us completely fooled," Tifa whispered, staring into her cold coffee, "She's always so happy and loud…I would have never thought she was carrying so much pain."

"Did she tell you why?" Cloud asked, standing up to put an arm around Tifa, who gratefully leaned into him.

"She told me many reasons…all different from the next. I think that…maybe she's been carrying around so many burdens locked away in her heart…that they grew and maybe, she couldn't bear it much more." Vincent spoke from his heart, thinking back when he sealed himself in a coffin to hide from his mistakes, which only allowed his emotions to grow and fester into an overwhelming force. He looked up at the two pairs of wide eyes that stared miserably at him, and for one of the first times since he agreed to help Cloud, he felt his age over his young companions. In their eyes he saw their innocence and naivety, even though they've been through so much.

"She was very upset last night. I may…I don't think I handled it well," he admitted hanging his head. "I was angry when she told me the truth, towards myself for, after all this time, not realizing anything." Tifa walked over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Vincent," she said, her eyes shining with compassion, "We all would have handled it in different ways."

"So what do we do about this," Cloud asked, looking between the tall gunman and the shorter martial artist, "It has to stop, she could really hurt herself…or worse." Tifa shivered.

"Some of her cuts are becoming infected," Vincent told, alarm springing in Cloud and Tifa's face, "I started to treat them last night."

"This is really serious," Cloud murmured, "We have to do something."

"I was planning on helping her," Vincent mumbled, remembering Yuffie's promise to him.

"I was going to suggest that you do," Tifa said, and lowered her eyes a little, "She seems to trust you enough to open up to you."

"Yeah Vincent!" Cloud yelped, an idea gleaming in his eyes, "You could, um help Yuffie with a sort of, um, therapy on the go!"

"Yeah, but don't tell her that," Tifa said dryly, making her way over to the spiky blond.

"Why not? Therapy's a good thing!" Cloud whined as Tifa slapped him lightly up the head.

"Well generally yeah! But people don't like thinking that they have to go to a nut doctor!"

"If you say it like that," Cloud argued, using his height to tower over Tifa, only to shrink under her glare, "She needs help! For this kind of problem, therapists are a good thing!"

"You're missing the point! Yuffie needs help but telling her she needs therapy isn't going to go over well. And besides, where are you going to find a therapist in the middle of a forest?"

"That's what Vincent's for!"

Vincent sighed as his friends bickered back and forth. It was true that Yuffie desperately needed help, even if she didn't want it. But he agreed with Tifa. Telling someone that they needed to go into therapy usually didn't end well on the patient's part. People don't like thinking they're crazy and need mental help, whereas therapy is more than that.

"I'll help her," Vincent said, strongly and calmly, silencing Cloud and Tifa's argument, "Whatever it takes, I will help her get through this, whatever she needs."

His voice silenced his two arguing friends, and the stared at him and Tifa lowered her fists that were aimed at the spiky head.

"Will that work?" Cloud asked quietly, "How?"

"I don't know," he admitted turning to Tifa, "I'll try to lift her pain."

"Or maybe help her deal with it," Tifa added walking over to take Vincent's hand, a motion that she normally wouldn't have dared if they were not in this situation, "Maybe something's happened to her and this is what she did to deal with it…or maybe she…she…oh Vincent! I don't know! There could be so many things!"

Gently taking his hand back Vincent nodded wearily, "I know, Tifa, but I promise I will help her."

"We'll help her too," Cloud said, punching his fist in his palm, eyes gleaming.

"If she wants," Tifa added, "But please let her know we're here for her."

"Of course," Vincent said, placing his cup in the sink and heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Tifa asked.

"To Yuffie," he said simply, not bothering to turn around to see Tifa's broad smile and Cloud's smirk.

* * *

Vincent walked into their room to see Yuffie sitting up tiredly in the bed, the covers all askew around her. She was rubbing her eyes sleepily and he suppressed a smile. She turned to him and gave a yawning smile.

"Morning, Vince," she yawned, stretching like a cat, "You're up early."

"You're up late," he said softly, "It's almost ten." Her eyes went wide as she dived across the bed to rip the clock off the wall.

"Leviathan Vinny!" Yuffie shook the clock, as if trying to change its time, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? We could be out looking for Aeris!"

"You had a long night last night," he stated, watching her carefully, "I thought you would benefit from a little bit of extra sleep." Yuffie momentarily froze, her eyes wide and pained, the she dropped her gaze and rubbed her bandaged arm.

"Yeah, I guess that was a good idea," she said quietly, turning away from him. Vincent walked noiselessly over to her and sat down gently beside her.

"How are you feeling?" The small ninja nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders a little.

"I'm okay," she replied lamely. Vincent shook his head.

"No, I meant, how _are_ you feeling?" Yuffie's eyes widened as got the gist of his question.

"Oh…er…I'm…" she fumbled trying the find the right words, "I really am ok."

"Are you sure?" Vincent asked gazing into her stormy eyes. She nodded quickly. Vincent sighed.

"I must apologize to you, Yuffie." He whispered, adverting his eyes from her to look at the wall. Yuffie's eyes grew and she blushed.

"W-wh-why?" she stuttered, grabbing his shoulder and forced him to meet her on her eye level. "You haven't done anything to me!"

Sighing again, he gently pried her tiny fingers away from his cloak and raised himself from the awkward position she brought him in.

"I apologize for my actions last night," he said remorsefully, "I shouldn't have acted like that. And for that I am sorry."

Yuffie flinched and looked away which only added more to Vincent's conscience. He hung his head sadly.

"No, Vince," she said weakly, "Don't apologize for that. I-I guess I needed it." The gunman looked up and brushed a stray strand of her dark hair away causing reason for a light blush to color her cheeks.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked, his crimson eyes bearing sadly into hers.

"Of course Vinny!" She cried, throwing her arms around his neck, "Though, like always, you've done nothing wrong." He smiled softly and pulled out of his grasp. She stared up at him smiling brightly, and blushing. Yuffie was acting like her old self again and he'd give anything to keep that part of her pain free. He would do anything to see that smile, and makes sure it never leaves.

"Yuffie," he mused, "Remember how you promised me last night?" She winced a little but nodded, "Well, I will make a promise to you."

"Oh?" she cocked her head, her eyes full of questioning curiosity, "What?"

"You promised me that you would stop cutting," she very visibly flinched, but he continued, "And I will help you."

"Oh Vin," she murmured, "You don't have to do anything…I can deal with—"

"I will help you," he said firmly, "Though you need to accept it."

"I don't need help," she huffed indignantly, but faltered under Vincent's flat look, "M-m-maybe I do need help…" She looked up at Vincent sadly.

"Will you help me Vince?" she whispered, eyes downcast. Vincent smiled and grabbed her chin, making her look at him.

"Of course I will help you," he said, giving her a rare, true smile, to which she blushed madly at, "But you have to let me." Yuffie cocked her head, her storm grey eyes brightening and questioning.

"So," Vincent said gently, "How are you really feeling?"

Yuffie opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by sharp raps on their door.

"Vincent, Yuffie!" Cloud's voice urgently sounded from the other side, "Come on we're landing and starting the search for Aeris."

"Eek!" Yuffie shrieked leaping off the bed, "Come on Vinny let's go!" She gave him a charming smile, "We'll have to finish our talk later, kay?"

He gave her a look.

"I promise Vince!" she said as she darted out the door. Heaving a sigh he waited a minute or two before calling out,

"Yuffie! You're still in your pajamas…"

"DAMN!"

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Well, you made it through the second chapter! Haha, no...well hopefully you got threw it alright. So there shouldn't be too many mistakes in this, because as I learned with the last chapter: Don't post anything without your editor reading it first...no matter how excited you are to post it....uh...yeah, thanks a lot Chedder (my editors name is Chedder fyi..) So hopefully, I can update pretty regulary, maybe every two weeks are so? You see, I started this story in my history class...cause I'm in a college course in highschool, so my teacher doesn't make us smart kids do anything...so I write! So unless we watch movies, I'll try and keep this story going!

Another tidbit, I'm following the storyline of the game...at like the bare minimum I can...so more Yuffie/Vincent...and maybe even some little Cloud and Tifa thrown in there...it all depends.

So without further adieu, I will see you next time, I greatly appreciate reviews and in the next chapter we learn a little about Yuffie's reasons for her habit..so stay tuned!

Kate :)


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